𝐛 𝐞 𝐧 𝐯 𝐨 𝐥 𝐢 𝐨

The tears were getting hard to hold back now, her eyes turning red from trying not to cry in front of this man. She remembered how heartbroken she was when she found out what he had done, how long she cried and wanted to kill both him and Frankie. Now she had become the same person he was, worse than he was. She knew this and it hurt her deep at her core. "Don't you ever compare me to people who have used you. I loved you so deeply and you broke my heart." Her breath shaky as she finally started to let the tears roll down her cheeks, clenching her jaw for a moment before continuing on. "I fucked up, Leo. I'm well aware of that. I don't know what the fuck you want me to say here. You can stand there and judge me all you want for what I did, but don't ever think that me being a cheater makes you a fucking angel. You are just as bottom of the pile as I am." Shoving past him to get to the door, she wiped the tears from her face and threw one last glare his way. "I could have been single and there still would have never been another us." Slamming the door shut behind her as she walked off to try and find Liam again.

"You are like those even if you don't want to admit it. I was at my lowest and you took advantage of that. You crawled into my bed and promised me we could work on this because that's what I wanted to hear. What did you even gain from it? Did it make you feel better? Did it feel good to get whatever you wanted with me?" It didn't matter what she said or how much she denied it because right now he had convinced himself of the worst. "Fuck off, Alabama!" He yelled as loud as he could as she stormed past him with a shove, his body swinging around to look at her at the door. "Seriously fuck you! Don't ever speak to me or look my way again. You're fuckin' disgusting." His words were harsh and he knew he'd regret them once he'd calmed down but in the moment he felt sick just looking at her.

"Well fuck Lia." Griffin snapped back. "All everyone sees is a weak link," He said shaking his head as he took a seat. "I'm sure no one would judge you for looking upset, since it's for your sister." He pointed out. "When I use my kid as an excuse to escape, do you want to join?"

"The more she reacts to this bullshit though the worse it looks and people start to actually believe it." He knew there was no winning right now, it didn't matter what Griffin said either it couldn't stop his venting and spiralling. "Are you kidding me? I bet half the people in this room are happy that we're suffering. Some of these folk are still pissed we left." He smiled slightly and shook his head at Griffin's offer. "If i leave this my dad will be pissed."

Leo turned to look at his sister with confusion, he couldn't believe that she really thought any of them were anymore illegitimate than the majority already were. "Aurelia I don't think any of us are liars. We are all far too much alike for any of us to be frauds." His brows furrowed at her in hopes that she came to her senses about this before making things worse than needs be. "Somebody is just fucking with our family and if we react to it then they will keep doing it."

Her hands threw up in the air as if what he was saying was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard, turning her back on him to walk a few paces away as she thought about what she needed to say. Her attitude still not backing down when she turned to face him again. "You don't know anything about what I am going through. Marriage is hard work, Leo." She scoffed at him, crossing her arms over her chest as she rolled her eyes that were fighting back tears hard. Alabama knew that she was wrong in this, that the guilt was eating her alive but it was hard for her to admit when things didn't end up going her way. "It's not like I went back home to him after it. We weren't talking!!" As if it made her actions any better. "I'm not a shitty person, I made a fucking mistake! I can't be perfect all the time, I'm so sorry to have disappointed you!"

One person he truly felt bad for doing dirty was Alabama. He thought about it often, guilt ate him up but that wasn't enough to stop him sleeping with the same person that he cheated on her with even to this day. He would never admit that to her though. "No fucking shit marriage is hard work, Bama. Everyone fucking knows that!" His voice raising more as the conversation continued to infuriate him. "Yes you're right you did disappoint me. I'm disappointed because I thought you were different than all the others who I come across, I thought even to this day you were the one thing in life that I truly fucked up with because I drunkenly let someone suck my dick." He scoffed. "How fucking wrong was I? You are literally no better than any woman I've had who simply wanted to use me for money and followers. You're worse. You're the bottom of the pile." He shook his head as he continued to yell. "I am so disgusted that I let you back into my life thinking things could change between us. You used me when I was at one of my lowest points and I still have no idea why? I was a mess that day, my sister is fucking dead and you crawled into my bed as a married woman, you told me we were giving this another go just to pull me in here at my dead sisters memorial to tell me you are married and crush me some more. I can't even look at you right now without feeling physically sick."

Griffin nodded, "I know that Leo, and that was the point I was making." He said with an exhale. "It's like them saying me and Gabe aren't actually brothers, unreal and baseless." He said to reassure his friend. "Come on, let's get you fucked up." He said bringing him over to the bar. "You need a distraction."

"I know it's baseless but people are still looking at me like I have 5 heads or some shit. Lia believes just about anything and her panicking like that in front of everyone doesn't help." Leo followed Griffin to the bar and hopped up onto one of the stools, arms leaning against the worktop in front of him. "Now I need to be at this thing and put a smile on my face." His hands gesturing out to the ball his family were hosting.

The yelling and anger coming from the other was something that had caught the girl off guard. She expected him to be upset with her, but to stand there and be yelled at was not how she pictured this night going. "Yeah, you did. You fucked up my whole view of love." She fought back, her words only spewing whatever defense she could think to come up with on the spot. "I am nothing like you, Benvolio. I made a mistake, you broke my heart and it was nothing to you." As if this wasn't a mistake she was seemingly making at least a few times a week. "Don't you stand there and fucking judge me. You will never have any room to judge me."

"You are literally just making excuses for being a shitty fucking person, Bama. Fuck off with that shit." He wasn't even attempting to lower his voice so passers by didn't hear. He knew he had no room to talk or judge when it came to this topic but he'd just about had enough of everything at this point. From his sisters passing, the fallen web targeting him and his family and now Alabama and her marriage. "You're right you are nothing like me because you're fucking worse." Leo stepped closer to make sure she heard every single word. "Somebody else sucked my fucking dick and you lost your shit even though I didn't fuck them. You happily married someone just to go and fuck your ex and God fucking knows who else at this point. You came back to my place, fucked me, cuddled with me and watched movies and agreed to start dating again. All while married. You are so much fucking worse than me."

𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 : benvolio blackwell 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 : memorial ball

Are you doing alright. That was a question he'd heard a lot since his sister passed and even more so since the fallen web had taken a liking to his family. "As alright as I can be" he shrugged before taking a sip from his drink. "yeah, the night is still young though so I doubt it will be fight free for much longer. There's a lot of alcohol in everyone and well.. half the people in this room hate each other too." He turned to Mina and gave her a smile. "You planning on fighting anyone? If I could fight anyone then I'd probably choose the fallen web but they're too pussy to do that shit with their name and face attached to it."

Her hand fell back to her side as he stepped away from her. She could already feel herself getting emotional at the conversation, but someone could simply say 'no' to the girl and she'd start crying. "Yeah, I realize that, Leo." She crossed her arms over her chest, looking away from him for a moment as she tried her best to collect her thoughts. "I wasn't speaking to him at the time, but now I am." Her defense poor, "Don't act like you are so above what I did, you were a cheater first." She paused, letting her arms drop again as she pointed at him. "Yeah, you cheated on me. You made this way! I'm all fucked up because of you!"

"Oh I made you a cheater is that right?" The man looked at her in disbelief, there was no way she was going down this route. "There difference is you are fucking married, Alabama. We were never married and were much fucking younger. You made vows to whoever the fuck it is. I would have never fucking slept with you again if I knew you were married." His voice raising the moment the first 'fucking' left his mouth. "You are just as much of a cheat as I am, in fact you are worse. You'd think being cheated on would mean you understand how it feels and never do it to someone else.. guess the fuck not you are just as rotten as you like to make me out to be." He scoffed. "And you had the audacity to flip out on me again the other day as if you are not fucking cheating yourself. You're insane."

His warm touch around her body, made her step closer into him. Her hand gently placing on his chest as she kept contact with his eyes. "I was going to, really, that whole night with you was.. well, it was amazing like it had always been." She was trying to be honest with him, feeling bad for having to let him down like this despite their past of him hurting her. "No, nothing like that happened and I'm so sorry that it happened to you and that I'm doing this here its just that I'm just sort of.. I don't know how to say this." She laughed awkwardly, the right words refusing to come to her lips. "Married?"

Another awkward laugh left his lips as he looked at her. "Babe, you're not funny." He played off, surely this had to be a joke because Alabama Evans? Married? There was no way. His eyes observed her face, her whole demeanour was telling him that she wasn't fucking around. What the fuck. Leo dropped his arms from her and took a step back. "What the fuck do you mean married, Bama?" He was stunned. "You do realise you stayed at my place, we fucked, you said we were going to try and work on us.. tell me how the fuck you are married."

Turning around, she walked through the ballroom through the hallway. Entering into a more private room for the two of them to be able to talk without others listening in. She took a breath, part of her not wanting to even turn him away. She lived for the attention of others, the feeling of being wanted. But things were getting too messy, even for Alabamas taste. "Leo, listen." She started, facing him again. "I think we should leave things with us in the past. I've got like a lot going on right now and I can't add you into the mix of it."

Once the door behind them was shut he immediately snaked his arms around her waist and leaned in for a kiss. It was made clearly pretty quickly that his version of the private room meeting was different than hers. "What.. what?" He awkwardly laughed with a forced smile one his face, his arms still wrapped firmly around her. "Are you serious?" He questioned watching her expression, he was waiting on her throwing a 'sike' his way. "What happened to us giving it another go? We had a whole talk remember? What could possibly be going on with you that means shutting me out? Did your sister die like mine did?"

Griffin shook his head. "It's fucked up. All of it. Why is it a big deal anyway, they never hear of adoptions?" He said pointing out. "Doesn't make any of you less, you were raised almost together." he was passionate about family loyalty. "You wanna drink? I can't get through this night this sober."

"None of us are even adopted" he pointed out, "even if we were then yeah it would make no difference but we're not." He was tired of people trying to kick his family while they were down. First the death of his sister, then the mysterious message threatening to leak secrets and now these false claims against the legitimacy of them all. He was tired. "I'm gonna need a lot of drinks to get me through this shit."

There was a moment when their lips connected that the blonde forgot about what she was planning to do, letting herself sink back into him again. "Yeah, that's all really messed up. I'm sorry you have to go through all that." Her hand resting on his arm as she looked at him, trying to memorize all the small details of his face as if she was never going to see him again. "Could we go somewhere more private?" Her intentions with that not being made clear as she looked towards the next room and back to him again.

He looked at her in surprise, had she really missed him that much she had to have him now? She sure knew how to lighten to the mood for him. "Of course, babe." Leo gestured with his hand for her to walk and he'd follow behind. He was excited. This was risky when so many people were around but if that's what she wanted then he would be more than happy to give her what she wanted, he loved her after all.

closed : @leoxblackwell event : memorial ball

Leo was looking in the opposite direction of Alabama when she approached him, her voice drawing his attention right to her and causing a smile to appear on his face. "Babe, I've been looking for you." Stepping closer as he took her by the hand he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips. "Between my dead sister and the crazy fucker trying to say one of us aren't legit Blackwells... you know, I've definitely been better. It just got a lot better now that you're here though."